That's What Friends Are For, Right?
by uptightcrankyshadownet
Summary: Romantic Nikita/Alex. The result of what happens when Jaden drags a reluctant Alex to a club one night. AU.


At Jaden's insistence, Alex reluctantly follows her to the new club that night. She'd rather be wrapped up in a blanket catching up on backdated episodes of Queer As Folk, but Jaden rags her so much and wheedles her from breakfast to dinner about going alone and treating Alex to drinks that she finally agrees, just to shut her best friend up so she can eat in peace.

She loses Jaden in the rambunctious crowd and heady darkness within moments of arriving, and looks around for the bar with a long sigh, beginning to navigate her way over through the throng of rowdy partygoers surging towards the dance floor. Alex swears she can hear the beat of the music vibrating through the concrete floor up her legs and rattling her teeth. She regrets this already.

Alex gets a cranberry juice, to the surprise and slight annoyance of the bartender, and prepares to wait the night out to drag Jaden back home in the car. It's going to be a long, boring night ahead.

Then the most beautiful woman she's ever seen in her life sits down beside her, orders a mojito, and gives Alex a smile that makes her heart miss a beat.

"Hey there. You going to be staying long?"

Alex swallows, trying to speak coherently. "Friend's probably getting drunk on the dance floor."

The woman tilts her head sympathetically. "Third wheel?" It precedes a laugh of amusement. "Same here."

_Third wheel? You're a third wheel? Which idiot did you come with? _Alex stares incredulously while the mysterious woman continues. "So, if we're going to be stuck here all night... want to talk?"

Suddenly, the night takes a turn for the better.

Three hours later when Jaden, stone-drunk but looking flushed with glee from the night, finally gets to her side and asks to be taken home with her last shred of sense. Alex gives her companion an apologetic glance, hoisting her friend onto her back. "Thanks for a great chat."

The woman swings her legs over the side of the bar stool and leans close to Alex, warm breath against her jaw. "You're cute. I like you." She brandishes a pen and scribbles a number hastily on the back of what looks like a blank cue card, then hands it to a shell-shocked Alex. "Call me?"

The younger girl freezes in her tracks. _Is it that obvious?... _"How did you know..."

"That you're into girls?" The woman laughs breezily. "I didn't. You are? Lucky me, then. You won't believe how many times I've been slapped trying that on pretty girls." She goes serious. "Call me?"

The next question is inevitable.

"What's your name?"

"Nikita."

"Nikita." Alex repeats. The name flows off her tongue lyrically, ink on parchment. "Yeah, that sounds great."

She tucks the cue card safely into her jeans pocket, and doesn't see Nikita's huge, happy smile splitting her face when Alex turns away to leave.

She's exhausted when they get home, and all but flings Jaden straight into her bedroom and flops down onto her bed, ready to drop off the moment her head hits the pillow. The card jabs her in the hips and she delicately prises it out, laying it reverently on her desk.

_Nikita... _

Alex drifts off to sleep with a small smile on her face. Maybe she'll thank Jaden for this tomorrow.

That idea is scrapped when her best friend barges into her room at seven in the morning on a Saturday, and flings herself straight onto Alex's single bed, almost shoving her best friend off. "Good morning, rise and shine!"

"It's too early for your shit, Jay..." Alex buries her face under her pillow. "Go make your own breakfast."

"Awh." Jaden whines, getting up and prodding her. "You know I always burn the toast."

"I don't-" Alex's grumble is abruptly cut off by Jaden espying the snow-white cue card on Alex's neat desk, making a dash to grab it. "Oh my god..." Jaden snatches the piece of paper up and stares at the telephone number, her eyes twinkling. "Oh my god, you got a girl's number?!"

Alex's eyes snap open in an instant and she leaps up, seizing the card back, face flushed. "Shut up!"

"Lexi! You got a girl's number! I want to hear about this!"

"Well," Alex mutters sarcastically, shoving her best friend off her bed, "while you abandoned me at the club yesterday, I went to sit down and get a pathetic glass of juice, and met-"

"A hot girl! And she gave you her number! I want to be the maid of honour!"

Alex raises an eyebrow at Jaden. "Thinking a little too far ahead, aren't we? You haven't even met her."

Jaden shakes her head insistently. "I tell you, you're going to marry this woman. I can feel it in my bones."

Her friend can't help but laugh at her adamance. "Whatever you say, Jay."

Two years on, Alex tells Jaden that she's going to be a maid of honour, and her best friend gets it instantly.

It's nothing big. They're by the riverside people-watching when Alex casually pops the question as if she were asking about what to have for lunch, taking the ring out of her pocket as if it were a two-dollar bill.

"Marry me?"

Nikita pauses, a smile coming to her lips as an uncontrollable giggle escapes her. "Remember two years ago, what you said to me at the club?"

Her girlfriend grins. "Crystal clear."

"Same thing, today." Nikita's smile softens. "Yeah, that sounds great."

The ring fits Nikita's finger perfectly and the diamond catches the sun, dazzling Alex, who can't help but think it matches the sparkle in Nikita's eyes.

Jaden makes a sumptuous dinner for them, and they all laugh over her commendable effort and eat whatever isn't charred to a crisp. And when she has a moment, she pulls Alex over and smirks. "I told you you'd marry her."

Alex smiles back. "Thank you for dragging me to that club that night. If it wasn't for you..." She laughs and twists the diamond ring on her ring finger. " I might still be a loner sitting in front of a laptop watching old shows, instead of being engaged to the love of my life."

Her best friend gives her a wink. "What are friends for, right?"


End file.
